


Death Spiral

by InitialA



Series: Cold War Relations [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Ice Skating, Skating, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-11 21:22:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1178074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InitialA/pseuds/InitialA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This is an awful idea.”</p><p>“This is a great idea, just trust me.”</p><p>Steve was reasonably certain that this was payback for the motorcycle incident.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death Spiral

**Author's Note:**

> DEATH SPIRAL - A pairs move in which the man rotates in a pivot position while holding one hand of his partner, who is rotating in a horizontal position around him with her body low and parallel to the ice.

“This is an awful idea.”

“This is a great idea, just trust me.”

Steve was reasonably certain that this was payback for the motorcycle incident. No sane person would ever think that balancing oneself on knives to travel across ice was a good idea, and yet here they were: Natasha easing her way backwards, and dragging him along after her, both of them shod in skates and warm clothing. “You’ve really never been skating before?” Natasha asked as she dug in her toe pick to stop.

“I had enough broken bones from picking fights,” Steve explained. “I didn’t ever think to try getting any from other sources.”

“I think you’ll be alright now,” Natasha said, smirking a little. “If anything, we’ll have to make sure the ice is alright.”

“Har har.”

“I’m going to let go.”

“No, don’t—”

Steve froze, panic etched on his face as Natasha pulled back and away. “Breath, Commander.”

“Trying, Agent Romanoff,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Relax the shoulders. Arms down. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Relax. Just stand there.”

He obeyed. She continued, “Get a feel for being on the ice. Balance. You’re a quick study. Soon you’ll be able to do this.”

She pushed off, backwards, and swooped away around the bend in the rink. He watched as she turned and completed the bend on one leg; there was a look of calm on her face that he rarely saw. The leg came down, and her arms cut through the air as her body twisted: the light reflected sharply off her blades as she did a series of small jumps, her hair fanning around her. She almost floated back down to the ice, returning to him with a small curtsy. She smiled, and tapped the bottom of his chin to close his mouth. “You’re staring.”

“You’re beautiful.”

She blinked twice; he’d caught her off guard. “Flattery won’t get you out of this. Come on, live a little.”

She grabbed his hands, and pulled him after her. Steve tried not to move. “I’m trying to _continue_ to live…”

“It’s just like sock sliding, only you don’t stop so fast.”

“This is _nothing_ like sock sliding. Sock sliding is _fun_.”

“This is fun too. Now push forward with your right leg.”

She coached him one movement at a time. It was slow going, with a few near-accidents, but eventually they made it around the entire rink. Halfway through the second run, Steve started to relax. This wasn’t so bad. There was a rhythm to it, and he found himself speeding up slightly as he caught the groove. He didn’t even notice that Natasha had let go of him until he wobbled and flailed his arms to steady himself. Then the panic set in, his feet shuffled underneath him, his toe pick caught on the ice, and he went sprawling. He rolled onto his back, grimacing. “Ow…”

Natasha offered a hand. “You were doing well.”

“Until I panicked,” he took it, and she hauled him up.

“That’ll go away.”

“I think I chipped a tooth.”

“You’re fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She side-eyed him. He couldn’t completely hide his smile. She leaned up and kissed him. “There, feel better?”

“Well sure, if you’re kissing your grandfather…”

“Watch it, pops, or I’ll lock you on the rink.”

They started again; when Steve got comfortable, Natasha didn’t entirely let go. She held on to his hand and skated next to him. They made it three circuits of the rink that way, going faster each time, before Natasha swung them both in a circle to a stop. “Ready to fly solo, Commander?”

“Hell no,” Steve laughed.

“You were doing so well! Come on, you can do one lap by yourself.”

“No, really, I’m fine. You can skate though, I want to watch.”

Steve went to the benches where they had left their bags, and leaned on the wall to watch as Natasha lazily did figure-eights in the center of the rink. “How did you get so good at this?” He called.

“Don’t you know? Russians are born on skates!” She called back. He laughed. She grinned. “It’s just dancing, with a few hurdles in the way.”

She did a few experimental twirls before beginning a stride. He watched her stretch her leg above her head, land jumps on only one skate. He grinned when she dipped and blew him a kiss; one of their cell phones started ringing in the duffel bag behind him. Steve tilted his head slightly in confusion; it was late, and their team knew it was date night. Fury only called during an emergency… Steve rooted through the duffel with more urgency. It was Natasha’s phone, with Fury’s name on the screen. “Sir?”

“ _Commander Rogers, I trust it’s nothing important keeping Agent Romanoff from answering_.”

“No, sir, she’s… well, I didn’t want her to be interrupted.”

“ _Interrupt her anyway. I need you both here as soon as we can manage it. We’ve got a ghost, Commander_.”

“Sir?”

“ _Rendezvous at the Midtown pickup point. You both need briefing_.”

Fury hung up. Steve stood still for a moment, the phone still at his ear. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach; he had no explanation for it. He heard the ‘ _shhhishh_ ’ of metal on ice as Natasha came to the wall. “What’s the mission?”

“We’re off to Midtown for rendezvous and briefing. We’re going ghost hunting.”

He glanced at her as she hopped the wall to change her shoes. Her face gave away little as she shifted into Agent mode, but the slight furrow of her brow let off that she wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic about this either.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaand this point forward my Steve/Natasha will run with the Winter Soldier movie in mind. Cheers, thanks for reading, as always reviews and kudos are lovely!
> 
> http://initiala.tumblr.com


End file.
